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Track(s) taken from SIGCD421

Missa del Cid

composer
Dame Judith Weir (b1954)
1988
author of text
Anonymous - liturgical
Ordinary of the Mass
author of text
Anonymous - Medieval
Cantar del Mio Cid

Charles Gibbs (narrator), BBC Singers, David Hill (conductor)
Recording details: November 2014
Temple Church, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Helen Garrison
Engineered by Simon Hancock
Release date: May 2015
Total duration: 19 minutes 16 seconds
 

Reviews

'These works were recorded … before Weir took up her role as Associate Composer for the BBC Singers; the high quality of their interpretations of these five works bode well for their working relationship and promises much for the new works to come' (Gramophone)

'A vibrant sound, never bland' (The Guardian)» More

'Judith Weir writes in an attractive idiom which will please those who enjoy the choral music of Holst and Britten. I fancy I also hear a touch of her predecessor as Master of the Queen’s Music, Peter Maxwell Davies … the performances are as expert as you would expect, with the BBC Singers under their very experienced choral director David Hill' (MusicWeb International)» More
The composition of Missa del Cid (for ten solo voices and narrator) allowed me to explore the intriguing relationship between warfare and religion. I compiled the text from the 13th century Cantar del Mio Cid which takes place during the reconquest of Spain from the Moors. The swashbuckling hero of this epic, Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, seems to enjoy his battles, cheering himself on with frequent religious expressions; and so I imagined a Mass attended by him and his troops (of which there is a famous example in the original poem). The resulting Mass text, which enfolds a partial telling of the Cid’s story, is made up of extracts from Latin liturgy, and the Cantar itself, in its original Old Spanish, and contemporary English.

from notes by Judith Weir © 2015

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